Oprah, Geffen, Ellison interested in buying Clippers

Video: Oprah interested in buying Clippers

ESPN reported today,Oprah Winfrey reportedly is interested in bidding on the Los Angeles Clippers if the NBA board of governors is able to force embattled owner Donald Sterling to sell the team. Citing unnamed sources, a story on ESPN.com said Winfrey is

ESPN reported today,Oprah Winfrey reportedly is interested in bidding on the Los Angeles Clippers if the NBA board of governors is able to force embattled owner Donald Sterling to sell the team. Citing unnamed sources, a story on ESPN.com said Winfrey is

Andy GrimmTribune reporter

Talk show host turned entertainment mogul Oprah Winfrey is in talks with billionaire media executive David Geffen and Oracle Corp CEO Larry Ellison to make a bid to buy the Los Angeles Clippers should the team become available, her spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The statement from Winfrey came a day after the National Basketball Association imposed a lifetime ban against Clippers owner Donald Sterling for racist remarks attributed to him and moved to force him to sell his team.

"Oprah is not interested in running the team," Geffen told ESPN. "She thinks it would be a great thing for an important black American to own (another) franchise.

"The team deserves a better group of owners, who want to win. Larry would sooner die than fail. I would sooner die than fail. Larry's a sportsman, we've talked about this for a long time. Between the three of us, we have a good shot."

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday announced Sterling had been banned from the NBA for life and fined $2.5 million and would invoke league rules to hold a vote to force him to sell the team. He said he expected owners would support the move. It was not clear when any such vote would take place.

Magic Johnson, an NBA Hall of Famer with the L.A. Lakers who has gone on to head an ownership group that purchased the Dodgers, has been mentioned as a possible buyer, and a number of other tycoons have been suggested as being interested in buying the team.

Geffen, a media mogul with a net worth estimated by Forbes of $6.2 billion, reportedly tried to buy a controlling stake in the Clippers in 2010 but was rebuffed by Sterling, a billionaire who made his fortune in Beverly Hills real estate and bought the Clippers.

What is the team worth?

Sterling paid $12.5 million for the Clippers in 1981. The team sale is going to crush the Bucks' sale price and could reach $1 billion. The NBA is on the verge of signing a new national TV package that is expected to top $2 billion annually, compared to $930 million a year under the old deals. The Clippers local TV deal with Fox Sports expires after the 2015-16 season and will be renewed at a massive premium. The Los Angeles Lakers just kicked off a 20-year, $3.6 billion local deal with Time Warner Cable.

The Clippers and Lakers have the NBA's two longest tenured owners and an NBA franchise has not come up for sale in the L.A. market in more than 30 years. Southern California is loaded with wealthy sports fans that will pay through the nose to join the NBA's exclusive club of owners.

Here are some of the leading candidates, according to Forbes, to be the next owners of the Clippers ranked from highly unlikely to the favorites.

Mayweather threw his name in the ring Tuesday while talking to the media promoting his Saturday fight with Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas. "I called Al (Haymon) today about that to see if me, Leonard (Ellerbe) and Al, and hopefully Richard (Schaefer) and a couple of other guys, a couple other of my billionaire guys, we can come together and see what we can come up with," Mayweather said. "Hopefully, we can do it, and it's not just talk. Mayweather has made more than $350 million during his boxing career, but carries too much baggage to garner entry into the NBA club. A jail sentence for domestic violence, a penchant for gambling and his own racist rant against Manny Pacquiao are a few of the strikes against a bid involving Mayweather.

De La Hoya retired as a boxer in 2009, and has built the biggest boxing promotion firm in the U.S. with the help of Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer. De La Hoya has a statue outside of the Staples Center, but that is likely to be as close as De La Hoya gets to Staples. He has his own baggage, including photos of him in fishnet stockings and multiple trips to rehab.

Crystal's name has been bandied about by others. The comedian/actor and long-time Clippers superfan was asked this week about buying the team. He responded in jest: "We're in negotiations." Crystal owns a small piece of the Arizona Diamondbacks, but don't expect him to be the Clippers boss.

The hedge fund manager partnered with former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to try and bring the Sacramento Kings to Seattle with the promise of a new arena. He reached an agreement with the Kings' owners in January 2013, but the relocation and sale were rejected after a Sacramento group led by Vivek Ranadive stepped in to buy the team. Hansen clearly wants an NBA team, but it is highly unlikely the NBA would approve a move by the Clippers to Seattle.

Real Estate tycoon Rick Caruso struck out in his bid to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers. He expressed interest this weekin buying the Clippers. Caruso is often labeled a billionaire in the press, but he falls short of theForbes billionaires list.

Samueli cofounded chipmaker Broadcom and bought the NHL's Anaheim Ducks in 2005. He tried to lure the Kings to the Honda Center in Anaheim to fill the building with NBA dates, but was denied. The Clippers just signed a 10-year lease extension at the Staples Center, but Samueli could play the long game in hopes of the Clips making the short hop to Anaheim.

Larry Ellison (net worth: $49.3 billion)

The fifth richest man in the world made previous runs at buying the Golden State Warriors and New Orleans Hornets, but was outbid both times. If the Clippers' sale becomes a bidding war, no one has a bigger war chest than Ellison.

The surgeon turned entrepreneur is the wealthiest resident of L.A. Magic Johnson sold his 4% stake in the Lakers to Soon-Shiong in 2010. Could he trade his purple and gold for red and royal blue?

David Geffen (net worth $6.2 billion)

The entertainment mogul told Forbes reporter Ryan Mac on Tuesday, "I would very much like to buy the team." Geffen made a $700 million offer to buy the team in 2010, but was rebuffed. The price tag has definitely gone up.

Magic Johnson & Guggenheim Partners

Johnson has been a part of the Sterling story from the beginning. It was pictures of Sterling's girlfriend with Johnson on Instagram that set Sterling off on his racist rant. Johnson and his financial backers, Guggenheim, are interested in buying the Clippers, according to Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski. If interested, the Johnson group is the clear favorite. The NBA would love to bring Magic into the fold. He is royalty in NBA circles. The Johnson/Guggenheim group blew other bidders out of the water paying $2 billion for the Dodgers. Guggenheim would also love to get its hands on the Clippers for TV purposes. The Dodgers' rich price tag was fueled by an expected local TV deal with Time Warner Cable, which eventually climbed to $8.5 billion. TWC is having trouble getting carriers to pick up the Dodgers' new regional sports channel, but adding another team to the mix would make the channel more valuable.